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Thursday, May 11, 2006

Blue lights and racing hearts

I got pulled over by a local policeman this morning; of course, in a completely and totally humiliating location – right at the entrance of my children’s school, where I was headed to drop them off.

My daughter was completely mortified as she watched her friends and their appearing-to-be-law-abiding parents cruise by with necks craned. It is always a nice touch to have a police car with blue lights flashing at the entrance to any Christian school! My boys were thrilled. The little one took inventory of the policemen and all his gear...”he has a stick and a gun and a radio, etc.”; all the while, the older one was doing a running commentary on the vein on the top of the guy’s head.

What did I get pulled over for?Was I speeding?Running a red light?Hit and Run?

Of course, my car DOES look fast and gives that impression that I live on the edge – don’t all Volvos with a Mom and 3 kids look that way? The officer just wanted to let me know I had a brake light out (and apparently the light inside the car notifying me that the light was out is out as well!). Hmmmm, yes -- complete with 10 minutes of blue lights flashing as he checked my license

I just couldn’t believe it when I realized those blue lights were for me. I actually sat up straighter and leaned into my rear-view mirror when they 1st popped on to make sure I was seeing them correctly. The patrol car had been following me for a couple of miles so I didn’t give it much thought (and waited until I am about to turn into the school to hit the blue light button...do I sound bitter?). My heart raced and panic set in as he approached the car...maybe I had done something so horrible I didn’t even realize it was illegal! I was afraid he was going to drag me from the car, cuff me and expose me for the lie on my drivers license...”Officer, I swear, I used to weight that much!”.

It has been at least 15 years since I have been stopped for any reason. I would have liked to have kept it that way! Somehow, it seemed way cooler back then. Oh well, the officer was very nice and polite and did not give me a ticket and told me to fix the light as soon as I could and sent us on our way. I am sure the kids are flapping their little jaws about this all over the school. Think I will go have a Krispy Kreme in honor of the occasion. http://www.krispykreme.com/glazed.html

8 comments:

Hello, Belle-Ah. TheWriteJerry here. I discovered your blog - I mean, journal - by way of Wendy's Tales from the Dorkside.

I found your post on being pulled over by a police officer interesting. It can be very un-nerving when those lights come on behind you, especially when you have no idea what you could have possibly done wrong. However, in your case, the officer was actually fulfilling his mandate: to protect and serve the community.

Granted, it does stink that it happened in such an embarrasing spot. But what a great lesson for your kids! They got to see that policemen can be nice, that they have an important job, and that they are to be treated with respect. It's a sad state of affairs that our society has put the police in a "bogeyman" role instead of the supportive role they actually serve.

Oh, gosh. How embarrassing. Funny, I was on my way to school today (where I teach) and a cop was behind me and all I could think was "please don't pull me over in front of the school, please don't pull me over in front of the school." I would never live it down.

OMG how embarassing. I was pulled over a few months back while driving through a rather upscale suburban area and immediately thought "Damn, must be a case of DWIARNWNIAEGGS" (Driving while in a ritzy neighborhood while not in an expensive gas guzzling SUV) anyway I had been behind a car at the stop sign. The car was 3/4 over the line while stopped. When he was gone, I pulled up and went without much regard for the line I had been almost toeing anyway. Got a warning but OMG being pulled over in that neighborhood with all those Benz and Beemers passing me with their noses in the air and me in my new Corolla, I'm so beneath them LOL. The deputy was nice though, I got a warning and we had a nice conversation! All my DH kept thinking was that he was going to make sure everyone knew that prim and proper Jess got pulled over :)

Seeing those blue lights is the worst feeling...happened to me about a month ago. Thank goodness the police officer was merciful and didn't give me a ticket for running a stop sign - but oh, the sinking stomach that accompanies seeing police lights in the rearview mirror.

Hi Bell-ah,I've only begun visiting you recently, so I hadn't seen this post. (Came here from Boo Mama this time!)I remember the one and only time I got pulled over (also in front of a school) My daughter was just a baby then but I was speeding (30 in a 25 zone) That was 35 yrs ago!!Great post